Friday, August 15, 2008

The Invisible City

Ever since reading North River, a few months ago, I've been on a Pete Hamill kick. The next book I read was Forever. He continues to blow me away. Unbelievable stuff.

Indisputably "Mr. New York," when it comes to writing of all kinds, Pete Hamill was born in Park Slope, Brooklyn. He's been a reporter, columnist, foreign correspondent, editor-in-chief, journalist, author and more. (As a side note, he also joins many other great thinkers on President Richard Nixon's list of political enemies.) In his writing, Hamill paints pictures of realism that we've all felt about 'our' New York, Brooklyn in particular, but were never been able to put into words.

At the moment, I'm reading one of his books published in 1980 titled, The Invisible City; A New York Sketchbook. It's a collection of short stories, or, what the author calls "sketches". The stories take place in most of the five boroughs but the majority seem to take place in Brooklyn. Particularly the grittier tales.

So.... take a trip don to the local library, pick up a copy and settle down for some Brooklyn memory-inspiring reading. Pete Hamill = great.

2 comments:

Richard said...

I hope you got to see and hear him last night at the Park Slope B&N. He was wonderful.

Dave Campbell said...

Richard,

If only I had known...

I'll have to visit his site for a schedule of appearances.

Thanks for your post.

Dave